Clock synchronization among network devices is used in many network applications. One application of using a synchronized clock value is for measuring latency between two devices. If the clocks are not synchronized the resulting latency measurement will be inaccurate.
Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) is an International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication (ITU-T) Standardization Sector standard for computer networking that facilitates the transference of clock signals over the Ethernet physical layer. In particular, SyncE enables clock synchronization inside a network with respect to a master device clock source or master clock. Each network element (e.g., a switch, a network interface card (NIC), or router) needs to recover the master clock from high-speed data received from the master device clock source and use the recovered master clock for its own data transmission in a manner such that the master clock spreads throughout the network.